Mischief - Up to Mischief Log 45 Further adventures of S/Y Mischief through the eyes and ears of Chas Baynes

Friday, 1st June 2018 - Neiafu harbor, Tonga

A slow news morning on board Mischief. So, went ashore late morning and had a bacon sarney at Mangoes where as usual the wifi was poor so Dave and I went up to the shops to buy some beer for tomorrow evenings' BBQ at Rob and Sue's B&B.

We had been informed by Stanley (a waiter at the Refuge bar just on shore from our mooring) a day or so back that there was to be a school's rugby match today, and he would happily take us. So, after we had stowed the beer aboard we made our way across to the Refuge where Stanley was busy digging a roasting pit for the Tongan Feast taking place there this evening. He broke off and took Dave, Trevor and I up to one of the larger schools for what transpired to be a full-on rugby tournament finals. We met Rob and Sue there, and watched a 12/13 and a 13/14 age group game then the piece de resistance, the finals for 17/18 age group. The skill levels for each age were exceptional with pace, power and skills all on display in abundance; a great game watched by possibly 2,000 pupils from the schools concerned and their parents - the noise was deafening! Apparently, the players train 6 days a week after school so not surprising they are as good as they are but whereas the older team were sponsored, the youngsters played in T shirts and half of them played in bare feet.

The Tongans are very devout people and as each team made the field they lined up facing the referee, all knelt in unison and chanted a prayer before lining up on the half way line to honour the opposition. It felt very privileged to be present.

We hailed a taxi leaving the ground to get back in time for our Tongan feast evening, but the cab got a flat tyre even before we had left the school gate, so we thumbed a lift from a passing van who took us all the way back to the anchorage even though he only lived next door to the school. And the feast was a great evening with a DJ lined up to dance the night away - last orders were at 10pm thank goodness!

Saturday, 2 June 2014 - Tonga

Cold and wet!

We motored around into the next bay, about a hour away and dropped anchor off the jetty at Rob and Sue's B&B, the Mystic Sands. Dave dropped off the crew and the beer whilst I swam ashore and did some snorkeling on the way - the water is so clear even though the sun was behind cloud all day. I saw loads of small tropical fish plus one particularly attractive engine block and a rear differential for a lorry, home to a small octopus apparently but he was out when I went to look.

We spent the afternoon on the mystic sands at the 'resort' where Rob and Sue were the only residents. Mossie, the Tongan lady who basically cooked and cleaned, came to greet us and we asked if she could manage another 8 people as the crews from Emily Morgan and Spirit of Catherine had heard there may be a pig roast going. She said, "Oh, we will need to kill our bigger pig", which made us feel very guilty!

We had a fantastic evening: the food was presented after a short speech and a prayer from Mossie who regarded herself to be our resort 'Mother', and nothing was too much trouble. She carved the pig (presented whole) and served with her daughter and husband to assist. The crackling was done to a turn, and the rest of the food was amazing and all prepared just for us. Very special evening in great company.

At least the rain had stopped but the wind was rising during the evening making dinghy journey back to the boat a bit bumpy but at least it was downwind.

Sunday, 3rd June 2018

Church! We had all decided that today we were going to go to one of the many local churches to listen to the singing that is reported to be legendary. But you have to dress for it; men have to wear long trousers and cover their shoulders, which was a real culture shock having not worn long trousers for months! I went ashore alone though as Wendy and Dave had some issues to deal with at home on the phone, whilst Trevor was afraid he may be struck down with lightning should he attend despite the fact it was a beautiful day today, same for Bones on Emily Morgan.

A great experience even though we couldn't understand a word of it, but the singing really was what it was cracked up to be. The men at in the back rows and the women and youngsters in the front in their Sunday best with each person competing to be heard, quite a contrast to my experience of the average church where most are content to mumble to themselves. The singing was almost deafening but beautifully harmonized with no accompaniment at all. It lasted an hour and was very uplifting!

Come the afternoon we pootled along to the next bay to visit 'Swallows Cave' a small hole in the cliff from seawards opening into a cavernous space over a 3-meter-deep ledge. With the afternoon sun shining into the cave with the perfectly clear water, it really was a magical place, even disregarding the graffiti. It was far too deep to anchor the boat even a yard or two off the cliff face, so we took it in turns to stay with the boat and snorkel the cave. The sun's rays through the water and onto the rock under water was so amazing.

We found another anchorage in another bay half way back towards Mystic Sands and the others went for a nap, but I saw Bones heading off with Julie on the paddle boards to do some more snorkeling, so I went for another swim. Found sunken treasure: a lady's negligee! The only way of getting it back to the boat was to put it on and the looks from the crew of a catamaran anchored next to us was classic! It is now hanging on the fishing rod at the back of the boat as a 'trophy'.

We were invited aboard Emily Morgan for sundowners and spaghetti carbonara. We took over the local gin we bought in Moorea to see if we had any takers but no, they all found it terrible as well. We tried all sorts of combinations, but nothing worked and indeed Steve, the resident doctor, even thought it may be dangerous to drink! We have another full bottle back on Mischief, so we are going to have to find a different use for it.

Monday, 4th June 2018- Neiafu

We upped anchor at 7am and motored back to Neiafu anchorage as today was our planned outing with World Arc to the botanical gardens. As it happened it was a really nice day out, as usual made by the present company. I was surprised we got there at all at first as the bus was rustier than the Titanic and had tyres without tread of any kind, but we survived the ride to have a conducted tour of the gardens by its founder who was as funny as he was knowledgeable - he probably had a pet name for every plant there as he was so passionate about them. We were issued with a small branch to beat off the many mosquitos and most visitors were eaten alive! But in the end, there were too many plants for me although I was interested to see the eight empty vodka bottles outside the propagation sheds and wonder which part of the germination process Absolut Vodka fulfilled?

In the evening we had drinks ashore in the Refuge as it was Dieter from Christine's 65th birthday and he was sponsoring happy hour which was very generous of him. A brilliant party again. Adela, a young lady from Tintamara sang to a selected few of us, her first 'public' performance which was spell binding - well done to her as it took a deal of courage to do so; she will go far. A lovely evening summed up by Dieter in a short speech: "The fleet has come together".

Tuesday, 5th June 2018 - Neiafu

A forty minute jog ashore then back on board for cleaning and boat maintenance duties, including cleaning the heads, polishing brightwork and mending bits. Then Bones from Emily Morgan came across to have a look at the radar that broke on the way to Suwarrow. He went up the mast to look at the radar dome and id 15 minutes flat had unplugged it, sprayed it with oil and refitted the cables - and it worked! How is it that some people just have the knack, based on a career in aircraft engineering and a knowledge of all things!

Gary and Marian came on board this afternoon, and the banter was just lie old times. They are on a 70 day around the world trip of which the next month forms a part. Apparently, they will have experienced nearly every form of transport other than a hot-air balloon. They have brought the warm weather back with them as it is really hot and humid today - it took over an hour to cool down from the run this morning and it is not too inviting to swim off the boat with all the jelly fish about, even though they are not supposed to be stingers - there are loads of them. But I'm not complaining.

We had the crews supper last night ashore at Mangoes with the prizegiving from the last leg, where most boats were disqualified as not going into Nieue but it really didn't matter. There were awards for all the boats who took part in the Mad Monkey pan- pan affair and others for medical assistance offered by radio to Lunatix and other incidents. Another really nice meal and lots of energetic dancing and a lot to drink! We had to say goodbye to Rob and Sue from our crew flying home tomorrow and to Tintamara from the fleet having to go home to Norway via Australia due to school programmes, a real shame as such a lovely family; they won Spirit of the ARC award to this point for their contribution to the rally and rightly so.

Wednesday, 6th June 2018 - Neiafu, Tonga

Went ashore to do the re-provisioning for the forthcoming trip to Fiji tomorrow, our time in Tonga nearly over! We had an unofficial skippers meeting in one of the bars ashore to discuss the various options for the Fiji group bearing in mind the various ports of entry and have all decided on the Lau group as first port of call as furthest east. Also,importantly the ARC are paying the clearance fees there which are not insubstantial so it's a bit of a 'no brainer', especially as it looks beautiful too! It was interesting to hear other yachts' itineraries although our own is rather constrained by the necessity to be in Nadi for the 14th June to allow Wendy and Dave to take a flight back to the UK for a funeral. There followed a formal Skippers briefing where some of the same detail was repeated but the clearance documentation was handed out all two tons of it!

In the evening there was a dinner ashore in the Rocking Rooster restaurant where we had a very nice steak followed by a performance from the 'Faka' Ladies, a group re-formed especially for our visit. It was amusing over the past few mornings at the Rally Control daily broadcast where Bones of Emily Morgan has asked Mindy on VHF for clarification of the dancing group and she has carefully repeated the name, only for Dave to repeat the request and for Mindy to even more carefully repeat. It was obvious to all what was going on other than some of our American friends who thought we were hard of hearing!

The Faka Ladies are a group of three transvestites dancing to music in drag costumes of increasingly risky nature and persuading the 'gentlemen' in the audience to place TOP$ bills in various places on their anatomy. It was quite funny and was very 'different', shall we say! The photos however will be remain in the "What goes on tour, stays on tour" file!